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Messier Marathon app
by Patrick Wiggins 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Anyone here tried this app yet? https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/messier-marathon/id594617818?mt=8 If so how has it worked? thanks, patrick

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Solar safety (Was: Current ATM Project)
by Chuck Hards 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

Joe, it might be a good idea if a qualified club officer inspected all white-light solar filters, both glass and film, to be used at public events prior to sun parties. Any found with pinholes or other flaws should be disqualified from being used for club events until repaired. Not sure how to do on-the-spot inspections of H-a equipped scopes without some kind of portable photometric device. Nobody wants to see anyone else go through what Erik experienced. Old timers will remember Ralph Seilor, who quit the club after an attorney friend of his told him that he personally could be held liable for injury or damage claims against the club. It was when we were building SPOC 1. Ralph was a very active member up until that time. Seemed like an over-reaction at the time, but these days I'm not so sure. It's up to the owners of solar filters to make sure they are in good working order prior to use, for their own safety, but a club needs a way to be assured of it when the general public is involved. I know that more than once, I've found a pinhole in a Baader filter and didn't use it until the hole was opaqued. A bottle of White-Out kept in the observing kit works for true holes (do they still make that stuff?). If it's not a hole that goes through the substrate but just a piece of missing aluminum coating, a Sharpie works well. Sharpies work great on glass filters as well. You'd have to have quite a few black dots on a solar filter before it's performance was compromised noticeably. My 2 cents. On Tue, Feb 19, 2013 at 5:55 PM, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > This is awful! When did it happen? > >

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Current ATM Project
by Chuck Hards 20 Feb '13

20 Feb '13

I'm nearly finished with an RFT refractor built around a (as sold and stated in their literature) Jaegers 110mm f/4.5 doublet. Using an original Jaegers lens cell, the clear aperture turns out to be nearly 107mm and the actual focal ratio is closer to f/4.4. It uses an Antares (same as GSO) single-speed 2" Crayford-style focuser. Aluminum tube and dewcap, Orion tube rings. All that remains to be done is to paint the tube exterior and line the inside with flocked paper. I may add a glare stop if needed, but based on my experience with flocking, it won't be. It should be completely finished in the next week or so. I'm using automotive paint (catalyzed) for all exterior finishes. Stainless-steel allen-head cap screw hardware & washers. I turned the focuser/tube adapter on my mini-lathe. The scope will be used in either alt-az mode on my "Weightless" mount, or on my CGEM on a short Losmandy-style dovetail plate. I'm adding an upper bridge plate of 1/4" thick aluminum on top of the rings for both traditional finderscope and a red-dot sight. It sports one of my molded-fiberglass dust covers. The dew cap is flocked and felt-lined and slips on and off. A Baader solar filter is also in the works, as is a foam-lined wooden case if I can't find an inexpensive military surplus case on-line. Daytime optical tests have been encouraging. Spurious color is surprisingly slight for such a fast cemented doublet, about the same as a well-made large binocular objective. It won't be noticeable at all on deep-sky objects. Jaegers certainly made some great achromats in their heyday. This scope is the "proof of concept" for my 5" f/5 and 6" f/5 Jaegers objectives, which I hope to build scopes around later this year. The 6" is air-spaced. Pictures: http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii24/JethroTull1958/ATM/refractor001_zps… http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii24/JethroTull1958/ATM/refractor002_zps… http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii24/JethroTull1958/ATM/refractor003_zps… You can actually just click on the first one and then scroll through the album, the second and third links are the next two album photos. Note the little 50mm f/20 refractor in the foreground of the first shot. This is the one I plan to re-observe the Messier catalog with this year. It is actually a 49.5mm clear aperture, f/20.5 achromatic doublet. I'll be using it on a small GEM with electric RA drive and manual DEC, from the back yard as well as dark sites. The "50mm Project" is a personal challenge project, to test my observing skills under compromised skies and with minimal aperture. I've observed the moon, Jupiter, and a few bright double stars with that little objective before with great results. The DS challenge will be interesting.

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Meteorite damage in Russia
by D P Pierce 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

Many of the injured tell of hearing the loud blast then rushing to look out the window only in time to have the glass to come crashing in. Why would the sound waves travel faster than the shock wave? Deloy

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Looney Toons
by D P Pierce 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

I always loved Road Runner & W. Coyote toons. When I was younger I always cheered for the RR but now I hope for Wile. When does he ever get anything to eat? The recent Geico ads with the RR & WC were hilarious! Deloy

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Way OT but interesting -- landing of a Lufthansa airvus
by Joe Bauman 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

----Forwarded Message---- From: kwaj66(a)suddenlink.net To: Undisclosed-Recipient(a)yahoo.com Sent: Sat, Feb 16, 2013 11:24 AM MST Subject: Detailed landing of Lufthansa Airbus A380 - Wow! Subject: Detailed landing of Lufthansa Airbus A380 - Wow! You aviators may enjoy this. Sure a big Machine!. Thought you might enjoy this one. Here is an actual, Pilot's eye-view of a detailed landing of an Airbus A380 in San Francisco. Filmed in great detail with all the voiced instructions from the control tower. This will help to understand the complexity of landing such a big aircraft while being assured of the inherent safety of the operation. Click on the screen and go to full screen view. Enjoy. ... http://www.wimp.com/approachlanding/ FORGET IT!! IF IT AIN'T BOEING, I AIN'T GOING. (GOD , I MISS FLYING! MORE THAN 40 YEARS NOW.) FREE Animations for your email Click Here! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2238 / Virus Database: 2639/5607 - Release Date: 02/16/13

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A new Looney Toons animation. [VIDEO]
by Dave Gary 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

Ahh, the “physics” of Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons. Can’t beat it. http://www.wimp.com/looneytoons/

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Good night, Irene
by Chuck Hards 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

http://news.yahoo.com/subatomic-calculations-indicate-finite-lifespan-unive…

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] New astro drawing
by Kelly Ricks 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

Thank you for your compliments Ann! I will most certainly keep you posted if/when I decide to show and/or sell them. ~Kelly > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:31:46 -0700 > From: Ann House <ann(a)annhouse.org> > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] New astro drawing > Message-ID: > <CAAKqo4w=FvQ4G7EmjMk676XR6Jk0= > aMiN72jVASeM1QPLrf1CQ(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Absolutely beautiful Kelly! Your pictures have so much energy to them. Yes, > let us know about prints (or originals!) for sale. > > -A > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php > > End of Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 120, Issue 76 > *********************************************** >

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] New astro drawing
by Kelly Ricks 19 Feb '13

19 Feb '13

Thanks Howard, glad you like it. I know what you mean about the black and white. I've been obsessed with it for years. I started adding color to more of my stuff a while ago just to expand my horizons a bit, but I prefer keeping it simple...black and white, and usually one additional hue to accentuate one aspect. Anyway, thanks for the comment:) ~Kelly > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:17:22 -0800 (PST) > From: Howard Jackman <sumoetx(a)yahoo.com> > To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> > Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] New astro drawing > Message-ID: > <1361236642.83719.YahooMailClassic(a)web162805.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Great work! I actually really like the full monochrome (I'm a big fan of > black and white) version a little more. Thanks for sharing it with us. > > Howard > > --- On Mon, 2/18/13, Kelly Ricks <kellyalenericks(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > From: Kelly Ricks <kellyalenericks(a)gmail.com> > > Subject: [Utah-astronomy] New astro drawing > > To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > > Date: Monday, February 18, 2013, 2:54 PM > > Hello friends, > > > > I just finished another drawing in the astronomy related > > series I've been > > working on for the past few months. You can check it out at > > my blog if > > you're interested. > http://www.kellyricks.blogspot.com/2013/02/accretion.html > > > > Enjoy! > > > > ~Kelly > > _______________________________________________ > > Utah-Astronomy mailing list > > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > > > > Send messages to the list to > > Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > > > > The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any > > astronomy club. > > > > To unsubscribe go to: > > http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > > Then enter your email address in the space provided and > > click on "Unsubscribe or edit options". > > > > >

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